Resolution to “Saving Face”
The man, unfortunately, would not back down. Steven began to change his tone to a more negotiating manner of offering him what we all knew the meal was worth. He directed us to leave the amount it was worth (plus a little extra) on the table and to get up and begin walking down the street. He was still in conversation with the man who was now getting agitated. Steven tried reasoning with him, even accused him of taking advantage of the “ignorant” Americans. He eventually left the little restaurant to join us. The man chased him out and tried to block his path. Steven pulled out his cell phone and threatened to call the police and report him for scamming – which sealed the deal. The man tried appealing to us, we uncomfortably “thanked” him in the one word we knew and played dumb. The man eventually stormed off back to his restaurant and we continued on.
We trusted our local contact to handle this situation in its entirety and trusted in his understanding of culture to handle things the “right way.” I don’t regret not paying the man (the truth was, we couldn’t have paid him if we wanted to given the cash we had on hand). I wish a more amicable compromise could have been reached but there just didn’t seem to be any convincing him.
Spending God’s Money
Virtually every staff member at Adventures in Missions is under the obligation to raise financial support from outside sources. It’s an unbelievable way to watch God provide and to allow the Body of Christ to participate in the ministry to the nations. People are being saved, healed, discipled and the like by missionaries that are supported by their friends, families and churches back home.
I hope I don’t cast doubt on the integrity of these missionaries as I broach this next topic, but a inner discussion of stewardship does arise from time to time on how this support is being used.
One of our racers, Mindy, is a caffeine-aholic. We tell our racers prior to going out on the field that they need to wean themselves off any caffeine related dependencies as coffee, tea and soda may or may not be available in all the locations they will choose to visit.
Not all of our racers choose to abide by this advice.
When Mindy was in Latin America, she and her team had spent two weeks in a remote village with a local church family. The family had graciously prepared meals for them during their stay but it was not the local culture to provide caffeine related products. Mindy was in the midst of terrible caffeine withdrawal but kept a smile on and persevered through the time without her precious “nectar of the gods.”
World Race isn’t unique in having a belief in frugality and good financial stewardship. There are virtually no everyday cases when luxuries are purchased or lavish experiences are provided on support-raised money. Missionaries live in this kind of sacrifice all the time – and most are content to do so. Support raising is not an easy or necessarily enjoyable process when one would rather be doing ministry, but, again, it’s a necessary practice.
Mindy arrives back in the closest major city after having lived her time of sacrifice and immediately plans out her next few days. Starbucks, McDonalds, a massage, a movie, maybe a drink at a local pub and a hotel room with a hot shower.
Is Mindy hypocritical to “sacrifice” in front of the locals yet splurge on her own time? Is she free to use her hard-earned support money on these “luxuries” (should these even be classified as “luxuries”)? What should we advise Mindy to do?
